1) Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes had a chance to become the number one team in the country until a loss at Minnesota. The schedule over the next week or so will tell us exactly how good the Buckeyes are.
2) Michigan State Spartans
Inconsistent shooting has hurt the Spartans early in this season, but a 2-0 start in the Big Ten gives them a nice start to the conference season.
3) Penn State Nittany Lions
The Lions, coached by Pat Chambers, have gotten off to a strong start and a win over Maryland makes them look like a legit contender early on.
4) Maryland Terrapins
If the Terrapins can avoid the slow starts that have troubled them early on they should be fine.
5) Michigan Wolverines
After a hot start and some huge wins the Wolverines have lost three of their last four, but two of those were to Louisville and Oregon.
6) Indiana Hoosiers
A weak non-conference schedule has been offset as of late by wins over Florida State and Connecticut. The Hoosiers still have a lot of questions to answer and some health concerns, but this looks like a better team than the last two years.
7) Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes have played a fairly tough schedule early on and that includes four wins against top-65 teams according to Ken Pom.
8) Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illini own a win over Michigan and if they don’t blow a big lead at Maryland they would rank much higher than this.
9) Purdue Boilermakers
The Boilers blew out Virginia and beat VCU, and then you have a blowout loss to Nebraska.
10) Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Rutgers has been a surprise team so far with wins over Wisconsin and Seton Hall.
11) Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Gophers beat Ohio State but the rest of the season has been uneven and leaves a lot of questions yet to be answered.
12) Wisconsin Badgers
The Badgers are a good team as long as they are playing at home.
13) Nebraska Cornhuskers
The Cornhuskers look like a team that is ever-improving.
14) Northwestern Wildcats
The Wildcats are young and early non-conference losses to Merrimack and Radford painfully shows that.
